Volkswagen Plans To Do Away With Combustion Engine Vehicles In Europe By 2035

Volkswagen aims at stopping the sale of its combustion engine products in Europe by 2035, a board member told bavarian newspaper Muenchner Merkur (Reuters)

Klaus Zellmer, the Volkswagen board member for sales, told the Muenchner Merkur newspaper “In Europe, we will exit the business with internal combustion vehicles between 2033 and 2035”

He added that the transition will take place "a little later in the United States and China. In South America and Africa, due to the lack of political framework conditions and infrastructure, it will take a little longer."

In Europe, he is aiming for electric cars to account for 70% of total sales by 2030. This would prepare the company for a possible tightening of the European Union's climate targets and even go beyond them.

“By 2050 at the latest, the entire Volkswagen fleet should be CO2-neutral”, Zellmer told the newspaper.

The European Union will unveil tougher 2030 CO2 emissions targets and regulatory proposals on July 14, which are expected to force carmakers to speed up the transition to electric cars.